FAKE Ficlet: The Witness

Title: The WitnessFandom: FAKEAuthor:badly_knittedCharacters: Dee, Ryo.Rating: PGSetting: After the manga, but before Like Like Love.Summary: Homicides weren’t unusual in New York, and sometimes detectives were lucky enough to find a witness, but this was one time Dee would have preferred not to.Word Count: 455Written For: My own prompt ‘FAKE, Dee/Ryo, The only witness to a murder is the victim's pet dog,’ at fic_promptly.Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.

This was Dee’s idea of a nightmare. There’d been a homicide, which wasn’t unusual; this was New York after all. That part didn’t bother Dee beyond the fact that murder was plain wrong; as cops with the Serious Crimes Unit, investigating homicides was a big part of their job, and dead bodies, no matter how mangled, held no fear for a seasoned detective. No, the problem with this one was the witness: not a human, but the victim’s dog.

Dee was most definitely not a dog person. Dogs didn’t like him, and he didn’t like them either. He still hadn’t gotten over being chased up a tree by a Chihuahua a few months back. That damned thing had been out for his blood; it might have been small, but its teeth had been razor sharp and tore a pretty good hole in the leg of his pants, ruining them. He’d really liked that pair too.

He’d thought small dogs were the worst until he met this one. It was huge, standing easily three feet tall, and all muscle. Ryo said it was an American Mastiff, and that they were reputed to be affectionate and good-natured, but Dee didn’t care. It was big, strong, and had a lot of sharp teeth. Why couldn’t the witness have been a nice, friendly housecat? He always got on well with cats; they were kindred spirits. If Dee were an animal, he’d be a cat.

“We’ll have to take him with us,” Ryo said, indicating the enormous dog.

“He saw the killer, Dee. He might be able to identify whoever it was.”

From the sublime to the ridiculous, clearly Ryo had taken leave of his senses. “How? You gonna sit him down with a sketch artist and get a description?”

Ryo gave Dee one of those looks that said ‘don’t be an idiot’ as clearly as if he’d spoken the words aloud. “There are shreds of fabric in his teeth; I’m betting he tried to defend his owner. The killer got away, but not unscathed. The dog comes with us; he’s not just a witness, there could be valuable evidence on him.”

Dee hated to admit it, but his partner was right; there was no way around it, they’d have to take the mutt in so the forensics people could go over it. He didn’t envy them the task of checking its teeth.

His shoulders slumped and he gave in to the inevitable. “Fine, but I’m drivin’. You can sit in back with the dog and make sure it doesn’t try to take a bite outta me.” He couldn’t wait for this day to be over.